The present invention relates to a vehicle roof structure having a sliding roof lid which can be tilted up and slid to an open position in which the lid in a tilted posture is placed over the roof.
FIGS. 17-22 show three conventional examples (which are disclosed in Japanee patent provisional publications Nos. 59-6127, 60-163723 and 60-219121, for example).
In the example shown in FIGS. 17 and 18, a roof lid 100 for a roof opening 101 is slidably supported through first and second support members 102 and 103 on a stationary rail 104. The second support member 103 is supported on the rail 104 through a linkage 15 for tilting up the lid. The lid 100 can be opened by lifting up the rear end of the lid 100 by a drive wire (not shown) through the linkage 105, and sliding the second support member 103 to an open position in which the lid 100 is placed above a rear roof 106.
In the example shown in FIGS. 19 and 20, the front end of the lid 100 is supported through a support member 107 on the rail 104, and the rear end of the lid 100 is supported through a linkage 108 on the rail 104. The lid 100 of this example is opened by moving the linkage 108 to tilt up the lid 100, and then causing the support member 107 to slide.
In the example shown in FIGS. 21 and 22, the lid 100 is supported through a support member 109 on the rail 104, and there is futher provided a linkage 110 for tilting up the lid 100.
However, each of these conventional examples uses the linkage 105, 108 or 110 for the tilting operation, so that the looseness of each joint of the linkage 105, 108 or 110 is added to the looseness of the portion connecting each support member 102, 103, 107 or 109 with the rail 104. Therefore, the mechanism for supporting the lid 100 according to each conventional example is disadvantageous in that its looseness is increased, and its rigidity is low especially during the tilting operation. Moreover, the looseness of the mechanism is further increased because each link of the linkage 105, 108 or 110 must be made long in order to prevent interference between the lid 100 and the rear roof 106 by increasing a tilt angle of the lid 100.